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ExamSoft Offers New 'Intelligent Assessment' Software and Services

By Kevin Hudson

09/26/13

ExamSoft has launched a new suite of software and services, AssessmentTA, designed to aid educators by streamlining exam creation on the front end while offering insights into outcomes on the back end.

The cloud-based software and services are free for faculty and institutions, with a $25 per term fee for students. The fee covers unlimited assessments and courses, according to a company release, so students pay just once per term regardless of how many of their courses use AssessmentTA for exams.

Features of the exam creation interface include:

The ability to tag and categorize questions based on unlimited criteria;

The ability to blueprint exams by choosing desired content, then allow the software to select the appropriate questions from an item pool;

Pick questions and have the software scramble the order; and

Question types including multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, true or false, short answer, and essay.

Features of assessment delivery include:

A secure iPad testing system;

Universally supported laptop software;

Military-grade encryption blocks every application, including Internet browsers, during exam administration so that students can only use their devices for the exam at hand; and

Paper-based exams supported with Scantron-style bubble sheets.

Assessment and grading features include:

Automatic uploading of exams for scoring as soon as the student is finished;

In the event of a discrepancy in the exam (i.e., a challenged question) all affected files can be instantly rescored;

Students can see exactly where their grades stand in relation to their peers and shows them their strengths and where they can improve with graphical, end-of-exam student reports;

The ability to gauge student performance and the assessment's level of validity, and gain insight into teaching practices by generating end-of-exam faculty reports; and

Longitudinal reports track how questions, exams, cohorts, and individual students perform over time; and

A centralized location for all assessment data to be stored allows aggregation and leveraging of assessment data from the student, course, program, and institutional levels for accreditation purposes.

"The ExamSoft platform is definitely an upgrade from the Word documents and fill-in-the-bubble system we formerly used to create exams," said Jenifer Van Deusen, curriculum director at University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine, in a release. "Students appreciate the snapshot the 'Strengths and Opportunities' report provides. We use it to cover not only what topics but also what types of questions students are exceling at or struggling with, so they can understand how to prioritize their studying."

About the Author

Kevin Hudson is a freelance journalist based in Portland, Oregon. He can be reached at sportswryter@yahoo.com.